First of all I want to know why in the world is this book in here sideways??? Second, I want to say that I'm really excited about reading this book. I actually did a science fair project on the Oedipus Complex my senior year in high school. But anyways let's get started with this blog. How much of a Hero is Oedipus really? I mean let's start from the beginning of his "heroic" action. The Sphinx was this mythical creature that imposed a riddle. If you passed by Thebes the Sphinx would ask you her riddle and if you didn't answer correctly she would kill you. One day Oedipus just happens to walk by and see the Sphinx. She asked him the riddle, he answered correctly and the Sphinx threw herself off a rock. That's real heroic of him right? But the people of Thebes were so happy that they made him king. Oh yeah I forgot to tell you that they make him king after he kills his father!!!! Later he goes on to marry his mother and has children by him. The city comes under a plague and Oedipus vows to do whatever he has to to end this plague; only to find out that he is the cause of the whole thing. Instead of being a man and accepting that it was his fault he tries to say that the prophet and his brother-in-law are planning to overthrow him. This is when he starts figuring out that he actually fulfilled the prophesy promised to him at birth that he would murder his father and marry his mother. When his mother/wife learns this she commits suicide and Oedipus uses buttons from her dress to gouge out his own eyes what kind of hero does that to himself?
I commented on Lucy's post
Oedipus is a queer man indeed. It sounds like that when he happened to answer the Sphinx correctly it was possibly by chance, but then again it could have been his fate from his birth. He certianly is a man who's life is full of conflict and immorality. Murder and incest, not the best actions for any leader to take, and then he goes on a crazy hunt for himself. This truly is a Tragedy. I wish it could have gone better for him, but in the great words of Dr. Schuler, "No matter how many times you tell the story, Oedipus does the same thing every time." At least we can learn from his mistakes.
ReplyDeleteOedipus is a hero, but he isn't our typical hero. He is not the epic hero who is typically favored by the gods or partially descended from the gods, that embodies some sort of trait that is found favorable in his society. Oedipus is a tragic hero, or rather: THE tragic hero. He has worked his way up to a high place as king, hero of Thebes, so on and so forth. A tragic hero has a flaw that leads to their fall and his happens to be his blind pride. He was so proud of himself for "avoiding" his fate all those years, proud of being a passerby that saved a city, proud to be adored king of Thebes. His whole life builds up to this high place he is inevitably going to fall from. So, yes. He is a hero, just not the hero we immediately think of. He falls from glory into suffering, rather than rising from suffering into glory.
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